The Los Angeles Department of City Planning has published a draft environmental impact report detailing plans for a skyline-altering development next to Pershing Square.

JMF Development Co., which owns the Pershing Square Building at 5th and Hill Streets, hopes to construct a 53-story tower on the vacant, L-shaped lot which wraps the historic structure.  The proposed development could be built under two different scenarios, one in which the building contains both a hotel and condominiums on its upper levels, and another in which it be comprised wholly of residential units.

  • Option A: 31 two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums with a 190-room hotel, guest amenities, 29,232 square feet of restaurant space, and parking for 126 vehicles.
  • Option B: 160 one- two-, three-, and four-bedroom condominiums with amenities, 20,431 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and parking for 187 vehicles.

Arquitectonica is designing the proposed 784-foot-tall glass-and-steel tower, which is highlighted by a collection of cantilevered, glass-bottom pools for residents on the building's upper levels.  While some of the protrusions would extend over the Pershing Square Building, none would hover above the public right-of-way.

Due to the tight dimensions of the project site, the project's restaurant space would be located within an open-air space cut into the center of the tower, with room for outdoor dining and view terraces, designed by landscape architecture firm MJS Design Group.  The multi-story space provides an opportunity for light to pass through the building's core.

Parking for the tower would be located in two below-grade levels and an eight-story podium, which would be screened from view at both 5th and Hill Streets.

“This project will bring those passions to life through a design that was inspired by the iconic California mid-century architecture," said JMF founder Jeffrey FIsh in a released statement.  "With 5th and Hill, we are reimagining those classic California designs and their porous indoor-outdoor lifestyle celebrating our beautiful climate in a sleek, vertical tower that evokes the best of the last century while looking forward with innovative design and engineering.”

Construction of the 5th and HIll development would occur over a period of roughly 30 months.  Project completion is currently anticipated in 2023, according to a release from JMF Development.

The project comes as the City of Los Angeles continues its pursuit of yet another redesign of Pershing Square, which calls for opening the fortress-like park to the street.

Pershing Square's surroundings are also in a state of change, most notably in the form of the Park Fifth development, which is slated to open across the street in 2019.